Sand table

 ( Writing Media ) 

A sand table uses constrained sand for modelling or educational purposes. The original version of a sand table may be the abax used by early Greek students. In the modern era, one common use for a sand table is to make terrain models for and wargaming.

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Abax An abax was a table covered with sand commonly used by students, particularly in Greece, to perform studies such as writing, geometry, and calculations.Smith 1958:177–178

The abax was the predecessor to the abacus. Objects, such as stones, were added for counting and then columns for place-valued arithmetic. The demarcation between an abax and an abacus seems to be poorly defined in history;Ifrah 2000:125–126 and others moreover, modern definitions of the word abacus universally describe it as a frame with rods and beadsSee American Heritage definition of "abacus" in External Links below and, in general, do not include the definition of "sand table".

The sand table may well have been the predecessor to some board games. ("The word abax, or abacus, is used both for the reckoning-board with its counters and the play-board with its pieces, ...").Taylor 1879:28 Abax is from the old Greek for "sand table".American Heritage:abacus

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Ghubar An Arabic word for sand (or dust) is ghubar (or gubar), and Western numerals (the decimal digits 0–9) are derived from the style of digits written on ghubar tables in North-West Africa and Iberia, also described as the 'West Arabic' or 'gubar' style.O'Connor, J. J., and E. F. Robertson, The Arabic numeral system http://www-hi story.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/history/HistTopics/Arabic_numerals.html

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Military use Sand tables have been used for and wargaming for many years as a field expedient, small-scale map, and in training for Battle. In 1890 a Sand table room was built at the Royal Military College of Canada for use in teaching cadets military tactics; this replaced the old sand table room in a pre-college building, in which the weight of the sand had damaged the floor.Preston 'Canada`s RMC: A History of the Royal Military College' (University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1969) The use of sand tables increasingly fell out of favour with improved maps, aerial and satellite photography, and later, with digital terrain simulations. More modern sand tables have incorporated Augmented Reality, such as the Augmented Reality Sandtable (ARES) developed by the Army Research Laboratory. Today, virtual and conventional sand tables are used in operations training.

In 1991, "Special Forces teams discovered an elaborate sand-table model of the Iraqi military plan for the defense of Kuwait City. Four huge red arrows from the sea pointed at the coastline of Kuwait City and the huge defensive effort positioned there. Small fences of concertina wire marked the shoreline and models of artillery pieces lined the shore area. Throughout the city were plastic models of other artillery and air defense positions, while thin, red-painted strips of board designated supply routes and main highways." Arab Forces, Marines Take Kuwait City – The Washington Post, 28 February 1991

In 2006, Google Earth users looking at satellite photography of China found a several kilometre large "sand table" scale model, strikingly reminiscent of a mountainous region (Aksai Chin) which China occupies militarily in a disputed zone with India, 2400 km from the model's location. Speculation has been rife that the terrain is used for military exercises of familiarisation. Chinese X-file excites spotters – Sydney Morning Herald, 20 July 2006 From sky, see how China builds model of Indian border 2400 km away – indianexpress.com, 4 August 2006

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Education A sand table is a device useful for teaching in the early grades and for special needs children.Raines et al. 1992:101 Wagner 1999:80

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See also

• Sandcastle

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References and notes

• Georges Ifrah (2025). 9780471375685, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.. ISBN 9780471375685

• Shirley Raines (1992). 9780876591574, Gryphon House. . ISBN 9780876591574

• David Eugene Smith (2025). 9780486204307, Courier Dover. ISBN 9780486204307

• Taylor, E. B., LL.D (1879), "The History of Games", Fortnightly Review republished in The Eclectic Magazine, New York, W. H. Bidwell, ed., pp. 21–30
• Sheila Wagner (1999). 9781885477545, Future Horizons, Inc.. ISBN 9781885477545

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External links

• The History of Computing Project
• "abacus." The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. via Dictionary.com Retrieved 28 August 2007.
• Sand table in "TACTICS, The Practical Art of Leading Troops in War" 1922

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